Life Onboard Serenity: #42 - Of Jobs, Vaults and Things Gone Wrong
POSTED BY: EnglishIvy
UPDATED: Tuesday, June 23, 2009 22:19
VIEWED: 30582
PAGE 4 of 14
13 stealthily kept moving down the hallway until he came across the problem. A pair of men standing inside of another lift with a hover cart carrying a couple of smallish crates between them. The doors had just closed, so although he had seen them, they hadn't seen him.
13 listened intently, hoping that he could catch a little of what they were up to.
"Is that the last of it?" the one said.
"Yeah," the other one said. "I think we found just about all the vaults. We have people combing this entire rutting facility for other valuables. This is a good take."
"More than a good take."
"Amen to that brother."
Then they were out of range for 13 to hear any more. He replayed what he heard.
We have people combing this entire rutting facility...
Not only did it sound like they lost the loot, but they had other problems as well. And they had people in just about every group that were not trained to deal with it. He knew Ivy and Cate weren't and he didn't know what kind of experience Evelyn had. Hopefully John would know, since she was his friend and all. He turned and hightailed it back to where Pain and Ivy were headed. The situation just went from iffy to bad. And with the communications issue it could easily get worse.
In the meantime...
Pain and Ivy walked closer to the vault the were assigned to go to.
"That was weird," Ivy whispered to Pain.
"What?" Pain asked as he used the light on his gun to carefully check out the path in front of them.
"13 was almost nice to me."
Pain snorted.
"Well, you did call him a freak," he chuckled. "Maybe that endeared you to him a little."
"No, I meant that when he went to go check out that sound," she explained. "When he told me to go back to where you were, he sounded almost... nice."
"He's not a bad guy, really," Pain replied to him. "He's been a little off his servos lately, a pain in the ass and he needs a good throttling, but he's not a bad guy."
"He has a weird way of showing it."
"He is a robot," Pain went on. "He may not like you, but I doubt he'd want to see you harmed."
Ivy looked around a bit as they were nearing the vault.
"That's odd..." Ivy started. "I haven't seen any hover carts or such that you would think would have to be around to haul things with. Not one at all."
Pain grunted a response and pushed Ivy behind him a little more. They turned the corner and got to the vault. The door was opened slightly. Pain and Ivy peeked in. The place was empty.
"Tzao gao!" Pain said under his breath.
"It's empty," Ivy said. "Something isn't right."
"Let's get back to the stairs," Pain said firmly. "We need to get out of here."
Ivy looked up into Pain's eyes. A feeling of alarm was starting to grow within her. Pain looked down at her.
"The vault being empty and that sound y'all heard... We ain't the only ones here."
"You sure?" she asked as her voice wavered a bit.
13 ran around the corner.
"Let's get out of here. We ain't alone and they got people throughout looking anything of monetary value," he reported. "Don't know where or how many."
Pain swore, grabbed Ivy's hand and led her quickly towards the stairwell.
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/// There is nothing here. You are not reading this.///
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John turned reaching out for anyone nearby, he felt no one but then a presence emerged. He turned to his people. "We have company." he said. The person was approaching their feelings getting stronger. John stopped for a moment. Why was this person alone. He pulled out one of his guns and waited. Suddenly a loud voice boomed from a corridor off to the side.
"YOU," the voice commanded, "OFF MY PLANET!"
'Gorramit,' John thought turning to see the person he wanted to see less than anyone else. Doc stood before him gun trained on his head.
"You can't just go around declaring every thing your planet," John replied keeping his gun raised.
"Same planet."
"I suppose you're right."
"You are all under arrest for theft and concealing a fugitive."
This was not going well
johnttf
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John's questions had been avoided for now, but Evelyn felt it wasn't over. He was very persistent and seemed to know things. She'd have to keep an eye out for him, but that was the least of her worries. Right now, her focus was on the job, which seemed to be okay at first, but then everything started to go wrong.
First of all, the vault was empty, and Evelyn was pretty sure that wasn't supposed to happen. Then John said something about company, and she had no idea what to expect. She drew her gun, waiting for this mysterious presence to reveal itself when she heard a familiar voice.
Quote:
Originally posted by johnthetheatrefreak:
"YOU," the voice commanded, "OFF MY PLANET!"
And that seemed just a bit odd. What was her commanding officer doing here? Wasn't she supposed to be handling all of this herself? Then, she said something about arresting them all. That would look just great on her final report.
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"See, I've secretly been kind of a fan of me for some time now. I've seen everything I've ever done. I'd love to meet me, but I'd probably just stare and not be able to say anything witty or anything." -- Joss Whedon
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Mal, Zoe and Cate watched Isahiah carefully as he pulled cluster after cluster of wires out of the main operations table. He spent time looking over the areas that were basically… mangled.
“Looks like the primary security system for the entire facility has been bypassed,” Isahiah announced.
“That’s not good, is it?” Mal asked.
“Nope,” Isahiah answered. “Would make the secondary stuff down by the vaults, or any other secured area of this place, rather simple to get around.”
“Someone’s definitely been here before us,” Zoe added.
“Looks like,” Isahiah comfirmed.
Mal swore and tried to use the comm again.
“John? Pain? 13? Anyone there?” he said into the comm. Again, all he got was static. “River? Can at least you hear me?”
Again, static. Mal swore again.
“Isahiah? What’s with the static? It’s making me all manner of uncomfortable,” he told him. “I got people in this place, some of them not entirely capable if things should go south, I need to be able to talk to them.”
Isahiah nodded, indicating that he understood what Mal meant, as he slid the wheeled chair across the floor to the sensor board. He opened that panel to find more wires twisted up. He pulled out a few clusters until he found a small device bypassing some of the standard functions.
“What’s that?” Cate asked.
“It’s a jamming device,” he said as he turned it slightly to see how exactly it worked. “Kinda rudimentary, but it was given a boost by hardwiring it straight into the control panel.”
“Well, can we get that gorram thing off?” Mal asked.
Isahiah nodded and it only took about two minutes for him to extract the device and shut it off.
The first thing Mal noticed was the sound of Serenity’s thrusters coming up over top the command center.
“What the…” Zoe remarked as all four of them leaned out the door to check out the situation.
“River!” Mal started to say. “What in the sphincter of Hell-”
“Not alone Captain…” she responded. “Ship on the far end. Couldn’t see it before, but I can now. Gonna set down closer.”
Mal, Zoe, Cate and Isahiah bolted from the Command Center and headed for the ship in general.
Now that communications were open, Mal started to get updates from the other two teams.
“First vault is empty, Mal,” John said. “We are headed your way.”
“Ours too,” Pain reported. “And we ain’t alone down here. They’ve got people combing the entire place looking for anything of money value.”
“So be careful as you wander, folks,” 13 added. “We’re headed your way too.”
“Juh jen sh guh kwai luh duh jean jan,” Mal mumbled. “Isahiah? When this is all said and done, we’re gonna have a sit down. You owe a couple of explanations.”
Isahiah didn’t answer him, but it was obvious he had heard Mal.
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"You're not going to arrest me." John was going to have to fight back in the only way that worked with Doc. "We're old friends, why would you arrest me?"
"I've tried to before."
"Not honestly. Besides," he decided to take a gamble that she didn't know about River, "what fugitive am I harboring."
"You're harboting yourself!"
"So are you."
"Don't go there."
"Don't arrest me." He was getting to her
johnttf
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On the way to meet up with the rest of the crew
They had to find a way back up to the crew. They originally were going to take the stairs, but 13 had told them about the elevator he saw the other men use. Now came the important question. If the three of them took the elevator, would those other men be hanging around it, or would they have gone on their way? True they could just skip the ordeal and take the stairs, but the elevator was faster much faster than walking up God knew how many flights of stairs.
The trio made their way very cautiously over to where the elevator was. 13 lead the way with Ivy in the middle and Pain taking the rear. They did their best to be as quiet as possible so as not to alert anyone who might be loitering around the general area of the elevator. Pain kept the light from his assault rifle low to the ground, occasionally looking back over his shoulder to see if there was anyone behind them.
13 held up an arm and whispered, "Hold it. I hear someone up ahead."
Ivy and Pain stopped and tried to listen to see if they could hear what 13 did. 13 cocked his head slightly, holding up a finger, and for a short moment he said nothing as he adjusted his hearing. It took only a few seconds before he whispered what he was hearing in the exact same voice of the person he was eavesdropping on.
"This is Crane reporting, Captain." 13 whispered, mimicking Crane's exact wording and syntax. "Rojas and I are at the elevator in Sector 7. We found some stuff and are on our way up shortly. Gorramn lift is taking forever."
"So there's only two of them?" Pain whispered to 13, sliding closer to the robot and turning off his weapons light. "How far are they?"
13 nodded and whispered back, "About 30 feet ahead and to the right." He looked back at Pain and asked, "I'll go. You stay with her."
"Are you sure about that?" Pain whispered back.
"Yes." 13 whispered. "The area they're in opens up into a large open area. The elevator is across the way from the corridor's exit. There's some crates and metal containers around for cover should you feel the need to tag along, but I advise you to wait here." He gave Ivy a look and then said, "For her safety."
At that, 13 turned and headed for the elevator, walking 30 feet and then making a right. His sensors spotted the two men standing outside the elevator, waiting for it to come down. He made no actions to hide that he was there as he walked out into the open.
"HEY! YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!" shouted Rojas, as he unholstered his pistol and aimed it at 13.
Rojas was a rather short and stalky man in his mid-40's with thinning black hair that was tied in a ponytail. He was of Hispanic origin and had a slightly heavy accent. Rojas was wearing a black leather jacket over a stained white T-shirt, a pair of worn blue jeans, and cracked leather boots. The pistol he had in his hands was a rather old revolver, but it still was functional.
Crane on the other hand was tall and skinny and in his early 30's. He was Caucasian with short spiky blond hair. He wore a long sleeved brown shirt and a pair of camouflaged cargo pants, finished off with a pair of black steel-toed boots. His sawed off lever action shotgun was also aimed at 13.
"STOP OR WE'LL SHOOT!" Crane added, loading a shell into the chamber of his shotgun.
When 13 ignored them, Rojas and Crane opened fire. Unfazed by their bullets and buckshot, 13 whipped out his two sub-machine guns and fired a three round burst at each of them. Casually, 13 holstered his guns as he walked up to their bodies. He looked at them and noticed a comm in Rojas' jacket it pocket.
"Rojas? Crane? What's taking you two so long?" came a voice over the comm.
13 picked it up and said in Crane's voice, "Had to take a leak, boss. We'll be up in a minute."
"Alright then." came the voice over the comm. "Get your pigus moving and no dicking around in there. Dong ma?"
"Got it." 13 replied, using Crane's voice once more.
13 dropped the comm to the ground and headed back over to where Pain and Ivy were. They
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I glared at the infuriating man across from me.
"I am going to arrest you!"
He glared right back.
"Fine, then maybe I'll just shot you!" 'Shoot me? Really?' I thought, 'He honestly believes that I believe he'll shoot me?'
"No, you won't"
"O.K, so I wouldn't."
"Maybe I'll shoot you." The other man in the vault,Jayne, spoke up, aiming at me. 'I know just how to deal with this' I thought.
"Not if you want to get laid." John looked at her in exasperation, and Jayne was obvously confused.
"Huh?"
"What? You are not going to sleep with him." John turned and repeated to Jayne,
"She's not going to sleep with you.", before turning back to me.
"He's not your type."
"How do you know?" I snarkly replied "My type could be...big, simple, and violent."
"That does sound like my brother."
Now this was like old times.
It is the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting
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John had managed to lighten the mood enough to move on. "Look, we sort of have places to be, so it was awful seeing you again. Stay away!"
"YOu can't just walk away like that!" Doc shouted after him.
"Really..." John was interupted by a gunshot. Reacting by instinct, he crouched. He looked around and saw a pair of gentlemen. He heard a shot from behind as Jayne expertly fired at the first, bringing him down. John was unsure as to whether or not the man was dead. "We already destroyed your ship, you have no where to go!" John was confused. "River, has the ship been destroyed." he whispered into the com.
"No." She replied curtly.
"I think you're mistaken," John began before it hit him. "OH! Bad luck Doc." She looked incredibly angry. An since it wasn't at him, this would be entertaining
johnttf
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Ivy and Pain heard the sound of distant gunfire in the direction 13 had gone.
The sound of a single gunshot reverberated inside Ivy's mind. She flinched, covered her ears, shut her eyes and slid down the wall. The shot was so familiar, so...
Pain was at her side in an instant, laying a hand on her shoulder, while his eyes were trained on the ruckus that 13 was probably responsible for.
The gunshot sound shot through her head again as a tear slid down her face.
"Don't look, Ivy," he said softly as his grip on his gun tightened as he heard footsteps coming their way. "Don't look. Now is not the time to look."
Ivy nodded her head slowly as Pain wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her up gently to a standing position.
"Ivy?" he asked her, eyes and gun still scanning the hallway in front of them. "Can I speak to Tommy for a minute."
Ivy nodded slowly again and Tommy slid forward.
"I'm here," she said, her gun switching from her right hand to her left.
Pain turned to look at her square in the eyes.
"I can't have her going to pieces now. You know that don't you?"
"I'm working on it."
"I need to know what is setting her off," Pain asked her, knowing that it was a good chance Tommy wouldn't tell him. When she didn't answer, he asked again. "Please Tommy, I need to know."
"It's the sound of guns firing," she whispered. "That's all I am going to say. And don't expect me to tell you anything else, so don't even ask."
He gave her a quick hug.
"I need to go back and do damage control," she told him. "You take care of her."
"I will. I promise."
Tommy faded back and Ivy slid back in control, her gun switching back into her right hand. She was relaxing a little.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"S'Ok. I just need you to focus. This is not going as planned. I need you to be able to help if needed."
Ivy nodded and took in a deep breath. Pain leaned down and kissed her softly.
"I'll protect you. I promise," he told her.
He kissed her again to show her that he meant it, just as 13 came around the corner.
"You guys can't keep your hands off each other even in a time like this?" 13 said, slightly disgusted. "Now is not the time to be sucking face."
Pain parted from her and walked up to 13.
"What did you do back there?" he asked in a slightly accusatory tone. "And how bad is it gonna bite us in the ass later?"
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